Sonic Adventure 2: Alternative Edition
by ForevaYoung
Summary: This is what happens when you take a classic game and put a twist in the story which can change events completely. What if it wasn't our friendly neighbourhood Doctor Eggman who found Shadow the Hedgehog, but rather the blue hero himself? Read on and find out what happens. Some things may stay the same, others may drastically change.
1. Chapter 1

Hello fellow readers. Welcome to a story that a friend who used to be on here wanted me to adopt for her. She is no longer creating stories and thought that, even with her leaving this part of her life behind, she still wanted this to be completed. I hope I can do it for her, and I really hope that you guys will give me a chance on this story.

I have edited it to fill it out a little bit more with information, and will be doing the other chapters when I have the free time on my hands. I really like the concept done, so I hope that it is an enjoyable read for you all.

I hope I have kept everyone in character as much as possible, and if there are any mistakes, please let me know.

I don't own a thing. Sonic and all characters are owned by Sega, while the story is originally owned by SilhouetteTheDaemonWolf.

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One or two years had passed since the Chaos disaster in the city of Station Square, and things were slowly but surely settling into a new light. Doctor Robotnik, or Dr Eggman as what the heroes of Station Square affectionately referred to him as, had fallen silent over the time that the Chaos tragedy had passed. It seemed like only yesterday that Sonic and his friends were out there risking their very lives for the sake of planet Earth.

Nowadays, Sonic, Tails and Knuckles, along with Amy Rose were pretty famous for what they had done for the human race, and Station Square thought that they owed a lot more than just thanks alone. The Mayor of Station Square made sure that Sonic and all his friends were comfortably accommodated while they were stuck on Earth until there was a way for the Mobian heroes to safely make transport in order for them to get back to their home, Mobius. It wasn't until this had happened though that more Mobians had appeared from seemingly nowhere and began to cause a slight panic in the human population.

Were they going to end up having to share the planet? Was something wrong with Mobius and that was the reason why the anthropomorphic inhabitants were popping up everywhere? They did not know. But all they could do at the present moment in time was understand that they had visitors, possibly for long term due to being kept in the dark about almost everything, and try to make their stay as peaceful and hassle free as possible. They did save the planet after all, shouldn't that count towards a little bit of hospitality?

Sonic the hedgehog, the new hero of planet Earth was doing what a hedgehog as impatient and carefree as he was would do when he was bored.

Running around at the speed of sound.

He was zipping past the various towns and cities, letting the fresh air surround and hug him like an old friend he hadn't seen in a while. He sighed and closed his eyes with a smile as he felt his quills sway like leaves in the wind. A day like this only meant one thing for him. He needed to get his curiosity cravings seen to and go exploring. Life to him these days just seemed to be too boring, and since Dr Eggman had vanished without a trace of his fat behind anywhere, now was as good a time as ever to get some relaxation time in. Discovering new places and running free was his own personal way of doing just that.

To others, the peace for so long would be a welcome thing for any other living creature, whether it be human or Mobian, but not to this hedgehog. He couldn't stand still for five minutes without incessant pacing or fidgeting of some sort. It got to the stage where Tails had to physically kick him out of his slowly expanding workshop in the Mystic Ruins so that he could focus more on his projects getting finished, rather than constantly being distracted by his cerulean surrogate brother who was for the lack of a better term; being a pain in the butt.

Still, the lack of action from the good old Doctor played in the back corners of the cobalt speedsters mind, much more than he would care to admit out loud. Tails was keeping an eye on things at his lab, so if there was a sudden appearance of his nemesis he would be the first to know. That settled things a little, but Sonic was always on edge regardless.

With these thoughts in his mind at present, Sonic had lost track of where he was going and somehow ended up in unfamiliar territory. Yes, even the worlds supersonic hero didn't have a perfect sense of direction when deep in thought sometimes.

As he shook the thoughts of possible attack in the city out of his mind for the moment, he looked around to realise that he had unintentionally ended up inside. The fact that he was no longer standing upon grass and more along the lines of metal sheets made him scratch his head in confusion as well. Surely he would have noticed leaving the more nature inhabited area? Why did the clang of his feet on the shiny surface not bring him back to attention sooner either?

Emerald green eyes got used to the darkened area due to being out of the Sun, and then looked around to find he was in what he guessed to be an old abandoned Eggman base. Naturally, curiosity began to take over the cerulean hero as he stepped into the base and immediately started looking around in wonder and awe, his eyes shining at the possibilities of this holding something interesting.

"Hmm... this doesn't look like anything Egghead created," He thought out loud to himself with his head in his hand thoughtfully, not seeing anything in the nearby vicinity that donned the typical logo that the Doctor proudly showed off on all of his previous robots Sonic and the others went up against. His head was scratched once again in the same manner as before.

He scanned the area and noticed that there were many more unusually designed robots that looked shut down all around the main area he came to as he ran up and down the corridors to make sure there was no danger lurking about. They were slimmer in design in general, and they were pretty bland in terms of colouring. Eggman always gave his junk heaps bright colours which was another easy way of telling that they were his if they didn't have the typical logo on show.

He wondered what time it was, but being Sonic the hedgehog meant he never really thought about taking a watch with him, or a phone for communicating with others. He shrugged his shoulders at the tiny nagging thought in his conscience, and gave a cocky grin to nobody in particular while lifting his right leg up to get ready to set off running once again.

'This is the perfect place to go exploring!' The blue speedster thought as he took off full speed down a corridor he hadn't taken yet.

As soon as the dust and old papers settled back into their original resting places, many sets of red glowing orbs began to light up the room ominously. A soft whirling of mechanics began to echo throughout the room as rapid movement was detected…

The blue hedgehog was having a blast running around the unfamiliar place. As he ran around in tight circles he had a tornado of dust follow him for a short while before slowly settling back into its once undisturbed place before the cobalt hedgehog's invasion. The cobalt hero was having so much fun running around the place and having old papers floating around him that he didn't notice that one of the ancient papers had all of a sudden flown into his face until it was too late. As energized eyes re-opened to the world in front of him, he panicked at being momentarily blinded by a dirty yellow colour and crashed into a nearby wall loudly. Giving a slight yelp of surprise, he slid to the ground very slowly with a loud groan escaping as his eyes swirled comically.

"Uhhh... five more minutes mom... " The blue bundle on the ground slurred to nobody in particular. He regained himself steadily and shook his head to get rid of the stars swirling around. Maybe he should have tried to convince Tails to tag along with him or something, then he would have possibly avoided that slight mishap by getting told to pay attention. That kid was definitely an adult in a kids body that's for sure, but nothing excited the kitsune more than unusual machinery or electronics.

Sonic looked down to his hand to see what exactly caused him to have an unexpected meeting with the bricked wall, and found it was a large piece of old yellowing paper with something written on it. He began to read what appeared to be an old diary entry.

 _27th July 1949_

 _We finally did it! We successfully captured the Project! At present it is being secured in a stasis pod in the lower basement of the base to ensure it is kept away from the public eye. I do not understand what makes it so dangerous. It didn't have any weapons on it and it certainly did not look like a robot that's for sure. It was definitely a living, breathing creature that was captured, so how can something that uses the same ways to live as us be as powerful as the records suggest?_

 _A lot of people died today, good men. But there is one thing that I will never forgive myself for. How could I have done it? How did I bring myself to do what I did to that poor defenceless little girl? She was protecting the Project so she was an enemy, but it shouldn't have happened like that. The files we recovered say that the Project was created to help others like the little girl, Maria I believe her name was. She had the incurable disease N.I.D.S, which was the basis of the Projects creation, but it would also be the answer to curing the likes of cancer and all the other life threatening diseases. My own wife is suffering from Leukaemia, so I know that this creation is important to secure for the worlds future. From what we know it seemed to going well in their favour, but why would Professor Robonik make it so dangerous and powerful if it is to cure disease?_

 _Whatever the case test will be run on it tomorrow morning and the results will determine exactly what we are dealing with in regards to this creatures abilities. Both medicinal and in combat. It said in the records that it hold the ability to use the Chaos Force, but surely that is just a rumor. Chaos cannot be contained._

Sonic finished reading and looked around him in question to what he just read to himself. Where could that secret basement be? Was this 'Project' still in this base? Sonic contemplated his future actions while noseying around the area, and shortly afterwards finding a large folder with PROFESSOR G. ROBOTNIK written on the front. The cerulean Mobian held the folder under his arm and set off once again, eager to find this 'Project.'

After many twists and turns, Sonic was beginning to lose hope for his little treasure hunt as nowhere he looked seemed to hold a secret switch or anything that would open up to another room in it at all. Contrary to popular belief, he was actually very good at finding things, especially secret objects and rooms. Knuckles and Tails just took the credit for finding things because he was such a nice guy. Thinking of his two friends, he chuckled quietly and rubbed under his nose with his thumb just thinking of what they would say if he said that out loud. He knew Knuckles would obviously get mad and shout at him, saying he was better. It was one thing that Knuckles prided himself in, and he was not about to be outshone by his blue rival in treasure hunting. Sonic could never pass up on teasing the scarlet echidna regardless. Knuckles was a lot better at hunting things down than him, but he was still pretty good at it himself, for the little things obviously.

Sonic slowed down to a halt and looked to the folder that he was carrying in his arms and opened it, looking for a possible answer to the puzzle that he couldn't solve inside the aged pages. As he flicked through the thick folder, he came across a very old black and white picture with a very familiar man in it and a young girl with light coloured hair standing next to him, both smiling for the photograph.

"Eggman!... Wait he's too old to be the same one…" Sonic exclaimed out loud with wide eyes, again sounding a little crazy as it was as if he was talking to himself. "Hmm, but who would that be next to him?"

Sonic turned the picture over to find his answer. On the top right hand corner were the names of the two in the picture written in very neat cursive writing. Maria and Gerald Robotnik, and the date it was taken _12/24/1949_. Sonic could not bring himself to understand it. "Why were they so happy? I thought everyone who shared the Robotnik name was evil. That girl though...she couldn't be related to them. Her eyes... they're too pure. "

He continued to stare into the picture as if trying to uncover a secret evil in either one of the two occupying the photos eyes or something, but came up empty. The smiles and sparkle in the girl's eyes were completely genuine, but he did see something in Marias eyes other than happiness.

Pain.

The clatter of something falling sounded behind the hedgehog and Sonic spun around to face a rather large arm cannon. Sonic gasped in surprise and looked up to find the owner of the arm cannon was in fact one of the robots he thought was shut down or more hopefully, broken. He yelped and ducked just in time as the robot had fired, aiming for his face as he was standing right in front of it. When he straightened back up, Sonic saw more and more of the robots that were in the main room pile in behind the first and they formed a circle around the now bewildered hedgehog.

"Warning, Intruder In Section 5, Warning Intruder In Section 5, Removing Intruder Immediately." All the robots sounded in unison. At this Sonic gulped and looked around him for a possible way out.

There was absolutely no way these tin cans were made by Eggman.

"On Behalf Of The Guardians Of The United Nations We Order You To Surrender Immediately Or Else." the robot at the very front spoke monotonously. Sonic looked at the robot and raised an eyebrow in question of what it meant. As the robot began to raise its arm up again, Sonic gave a toothy grin and waved in a cheeky manner, then as always was off at full speed with the robots scattering all over to look for him. They were clearly not programmed to work for faster moving targets.

Sonic had no idea where he was going at this point, he just wanted away from those machines as they were nothing like what he had encountered before. He walked up to a huge metal door and pressed a dimly lit switch beside it to see if it would open for him to get to safety. A loud screeching sound was heard before the enormous door started to open very slowly. Sonic lowered his ears a little, not liking the noise of the opening door very much as it would attract attention to where he was. Just as he thought that, a group or four robots, two smaller flying ones and two soldier ones came charging down, aiming and trying to shoot the blue hedgehog. The blue blur jumped up, curled into a ball and homing attacked the two flying robots closest to him, tearing right through both of them. This got the attention of the two soldier robots and they attempted to charge at the cerulean speedster, but crashed into each other due to Sonics last minute dodge.

The door was almost open now and Sonic had just remembered he was trying to get through the door for protection. He ran through the opening and started slamming on the switch on the other side hoping the door would close quicker than it opened. As the door was beginning to close, remarkably faster than when it was opening up, a second group of robots emerged around the corner and launched towards at Sonic at full speed. Sonic's ears flattened to his head as he curled up again and spun around the robots feet to trip them up before jumping back through the opening just before the door closed with a loud, dull thud resonating through the whole area. The crunching sounds of the mechanics being used for the first time in years fading away in an echo to leave the cobalt hero in silence once again.

Sonic pulled himself to turn away from the door where some robots had been crushed halfway at their attempt to crawl through to get him. He flicked his thumb under his nose with a cheeky smirk to no-one in particular.

"No matter who makes them, they all go out the same way."

He gazed at the huge room in front of him and whistled loudly. The room was unlike the rest of the base as it didn't look like it had been left for too long. Sonic could sense a strange energy in the room that seemed to be pulling him towards the large mechanism in the centre of the room. No dust was settled anywhere, which arose suspicion in the emerald eyed Mobian that someone else was here. As he looked around he found that this room was like he had stepped into the future. Strange machines everywhere keeping power running into the strange tank-like thing in the middle, as if the machines were trying to keep it alive alone and having no care for the rest of the machines dotted around. The floors were a solid marble, but not like as if the floor was put down, it was as if the ground itself was made from marble. It was very unusual to the blue hedgehog indeed. The air smelled different too, cleaner and rejuvenating, which was unusual considering this room was very much inside and more to the fact of underground which made the idea of the oxygen being better absurd.

Sonic cautiously approached the machine in the middle of the room that had all power going into it to see what exactly it was that was so important inside the pod-like thing. Unfortunately for him, the tank was clouded up on the inside so there was no hope of seeing inside at all. He looked around for something that could open the tank and have a look at what inhabited this mysterious piece of machinery. Sonic looked around the sides of the structure and found a control pad with the imprint of what looked to be a Chaos Emerald just beside it. The blue hedgehog stared at the panel for a minute, wondering what to do to make it work, then an idea struck him. He had been given a Chaos Emerald to keep protected from the museum as a way of partial thanks for saving them during Perfect Chaos' terror. He reached into his quills and pulled out the white Chaos Emerald and gazed into its depths fondly with a soft smile.

"You have helped me out before when it was needed," he spoke gently to the glowing orb in his hand. "I hope you can do it once again." Sonic lowered the Emerald into the imprinted mark on the control panel which made the machine in front of him start to glow slightly, then looked at the keypad next to it in slight worry. This meant a password was needed too. Oh how he wished Tails was here right now. Thinking like his best little bro, he remembered the folder he had been carrying and opened it up again to look for possible clues on how to open up this thing.

"Hmm, PROJECT….nope, LIFEFORM….? Nope. Erm, ROBOTNIK?… no!" Sonic soon found he was locked from using any more password attempts for fifteen minutes and growled to himself in frustration as he slid down the side of the pod structure to the floor to lean against it, and put his focus solely on pouring his brain power into figuring out this darn password.

He would not be beaten by a piece of scrap metal!

He continued to look through the folder in hope that something would jump out at him and scream 'I'm the password!' but he had no such luck. He looked at the picture that caught his attention earlier and it suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. He started getting impatient and was jumping up and down like a child as the timer seemed to take forever to fall to zero. He composed himself quickly as he began to enter the password that he was so sure was right this time. "MA…RI…A… Yes! Wahoo! I did it!"

A positive bleeping sound came from the control panel that lit up green for a few seconds as the whole room had all the lights turn on and the door to the tank opened, letting a cloud of smoke out. The gurgling sound of water going down a drain was also heard as Sonic waited as patiently as he could muster to see what this mysterious thing was inside the machine, and why it drew him to it. Once the smoke had cleared a little, Sonic could make out the basic shape of a creature very similar to the shape of a Mobian standing before him. Then as the room completely cleared, Sonics eyes widened at the sight. There stood a black hedgehog, about the same height as him, but with the side quills turning upwards, as if they were defying gravity. It was clearly male as it wore no clothes and Sonic could not see anything that made it look female. He had on white gloves with black and red cuffs, held together with golden bracelets. On his feet was a pair of rather unusual shoes that looked like they could help him sustain temporary flight as they looked like oddly designed futuristic skates. His ankle area showed the same designed cuffs with the golden bracelets keeping them in place. On the hedgehogs quills were red streaks running through right to the tips, along with up his arms and legs. What got Sonic the most was his eyes though.

Ruby.

The next thing Sonic knew, the hedgehog had bowed in front of him addressing him as what looked like royalty and began to speak.

"My name is Shadow. I'm the worlds Ultimate Lifeform. Since you were so kind to release me, my master... I will grant you one wish."

Sonic couldn't have had a more unusual day.

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I have tried to keep some things from the game in this alternate universe fic, the speech from Shadow is actually a kind of merge from the first words spoken to Eggman, and a little bit of the first time he met Sonic after City Escape.

This may take a while, but please bear with me while I try to fill out the chapters I've been given, and add more chapters. I also work full time so only really have two days a week to have a look over what I have and try to expand on whats there already.

Reviews are love and my motivation guys.

Until next time, ForevaYoung signing off o/


	2. Chapter 2

Welcome back fellow readers. I have been able to fill up this chapter a little bit more for you all to get a little bit more information in what is happening in this. We need to know more about the characters feelings towards things, particularly Shadows at this point. He has been in stasis for so long and has never seen the world outside of his pod, so naturally he will be acting a lttle OOC, but I hope I've done it in the right way.

As usual, I own nothing as the lucky people at Sega have that luxury, and the original story belongs to Silhouette.

Enjoy!

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It felt like the world had just slowed down to a halt. Sonic stared blankly at the newly awakened hedgehog bowing before him and just couldn't hold himself back.

"Hehehe, Woooohoohoohoo…Hahahaha!"

The dark hedgehog looked up at the being that just released him from his seemingly eternal frozen prison, and couldn't help but wonder if he was freed by an insane person. Shadow slowly stood up and gave the blue hedgehog that was now clearly in hysterics rolling around holding his stomach a confused look with his head slightly tilted to the side. After what felt like forever to the new ebony hedgehog, Sonic had finally stopped rolling around on the floor giggling like a big girl and regained part of his senses.

"So… what exactly was suddenly so amusing to you, hedgehog?" Shadow began utterly bewildered that anybody could just lapse into laughter the way he just did. For a minute it looked like Sonic was going to start again, but then he held his breath and calmed down before answering while drying off his eyes.

"It's Sonic, and I'm really sorry, it's just… Well, why did you bow down?" Sonic decided to ask first before giving an answer in case he sounded ridiculous. The cobalt felt a smirk creep on to his face as he spoke, but kept calm this time around. Shadow shifted his feet nervously and found them suddenly very interesting at that moment in time.

"Well you see, I was hoping that I would be freed from that infernal thing, that way I could assist whomever released me in their plans for world domination or something. I have all the information on how to do that, are you interested? Those humans need to be punished for what they have done after all."

Sonic stared at the dark hedgehog again, his eyes widening the more he spoke about taking over the planet. He began shaking his head harder and harder, which was making him feel dizzy and a bit sick. _'This guy… is supposed to be one of the bad guys? Nah, that couldn't be possible. He's clearly still in belief that we're in the past. He has been out of it for a long long time if I read that diary entry correctly. He will need to know that he's not on that colony anymore. He is on Earth safe and sound with others just like him. Something tells me he hasn't had any contact with another Mobian before, judging by his constant gaze on me. His eyes are so full of questions.'_

"To tell you the truth, I feel slightly out of place, you know like I'm not really supposed to be here, what with you finding me...among other things…" Shadow trailed off, looking back up at the hedgehog and raised an eyebrow at him. Sonic turned away and turned his attention to the huge pod-like thing the dark hedgehog had come out of. He had no idea that so many years ago there was technology like this. It was so far advanced from what he saw every day. He definitely would need to bring Tails here to find out more about it sometime. His buddy would appreciate it.

 _'Jeez, I've been around Tails too much.'_ Sonic thought to himself whilst examining the piece of equipment while running his hands over it very carefully as if scared it might break at any moment. "So what is this thing you've been stuck in?" He really had to know because it was drawing him towards it and now he could get an answer. Shadow glanced at the machine and shuddered to himself. He had so many bad memories and he wanted to do something destructive to burn them out of his mind for even a short while, but with this new blue hedgehog who freed him he didn't want to cause trouble to his savior.

"Oh, that… well it's called a stasis pod," earning a lost look in the heroes emerald eyes, he continued his explanation. "They are used to keep people frozen in time, although, sometimes others forget about you. So you're stuck in there for a lot longer than you would have expected. They freeze you so naturally you don't age whilst in there. You can still hear everything that goes on outside of it regardless of the situation you're placed in though. It can drive one mad. It was quiet for such a long time in there…"

Sonic nodded in response to what was explained to him and Shadow, for some reason could tell something was not right about his face. "You have no idea what I'm talking about, do you?" he concluded.

"Not a word of it!" The cobalt hedgehog gave off a toothy trademark grin while giving him a thumb up, before turning to walk towards the exit and motioning for Shadow to follow him with a wave. The dark hedgehog shook his head, wondering how he got stuck with such a simple being as his rescuer. The raven hedgehog quickly caught up with the cerulean speedster, who had started running a little, forgetting he didn't know if Shadow could even keep up with him. As Sonic went to look back, he saw the ebony lifeform right next to him, keeping up no problem by skating… wait, skating?

"Ahh, so that's how your shoes work!" Sonic burst out dramatically like he had just discovered a new world secret. "I thought you would use them to fly or something."

Shadow looked over to the blue hedgehog, not understanding the reason he was even talking to him except for the part he had nowhere he knew to go, and he brought him back like he mentioned so many times before, but he still concluded that this guy was a moron, and believed he would be raising his eyebrow at the words coming from him a lot from now on, along with not being able to stop himself from saying something… not so nice at some point.

"Hey try and keep up, I want you to meet the others." Sonic said before building up a burst of speed to slingshot himself to the Mystic Ruins. Shadow couldn't help but chuckle to himself and allowed a smirk to show on his normally stoic face.

"If these others are anything like you, I'm not so sure….Wait, what are those?" Shadow had noticed the robots that Sonic had previously defeated on his way into what Sonic had affectionately referred to as 'Shadows containment room'.

"What was that?"

"…Nothing." Shadow finished and shot himself ahead of Sonic, but letting him catch up as he had no idea where he was going. It felt good to be able to stretch his legs again. When you've been locked up in a stasis pod for fifty years it can take it out of you, especially when you have the strong need to run and be free. Sonic caught up with the dark hedgehog and flashed him another grin, but this one held a little bit of surprise in it as well. It wasn't every day the fastest in the world had someone who was able to keep up with him so easily.

He blamed the weird skate shoes the black hedgehog was wearing. They were doing all of the work for him after all.

Sonic took this time while they ran at an average speed to allow Shadow to get used to running again, and to take in the features of his newfound friend. His expression seemed to not be overly friendly, but he could change that. He was tense, but that would be down to being frozen so he probably would be a little stiff for a while. He looked like he was angry at everything around him even though he had never been out on Earth before now. He would need to find out what was causing him so much pain. He wanted desperately to help the darker hedgehog out, even though he only knew the male for such a short time.

"Hey you're pretty fast," Emerald met Ruby and then there was a click. It was on. "Betcha can't beat me though!" The cerulean hedgehog blasted away with another burst of speed, leaving Shadow to watch the ground below his feet burn slightly. The ground had changed to grass, and as he looked around he saw many leaves swirling around right where Sonic was previously. Shadow smirked to himself.

 _'Oh wouldn't you like to know…'_ he thought to himself as he too, built up a burst of speed and let it loose, catching up with the blue hero in less than a second. It continued like this until they finally got to the Mystic Ruins.

Shadow couldn't help but glance around where they were running. His eyes filled with the wonder of a child that had experienced something new. Being on the space colony all his life, he had never felt fresh air whip through his fur and quills. He had never seen a real tree or felt the leathery texture of a leaf before. He held a small dark green leaf in his hand, tracing the stem along the middle of it as he continued to marvel at everything all around. The forest began thinning down, and Shadow looked up to the sky. His eyes widened considerably. He had never seen anything like it. He only got to see the infinite stars that just seemed to go on forever when he looked outside the space colonys reinforced windows before. He felt a full genuine smile pull at the side of his mouth at just how beautiful the planet below them really was. It was so much more than he had ever imagined.

If only he still had _her_ to share it with…

Sonic slowed down a little bit. Jogging is what he would have called it, but to others who aren't gifted with his super speed; or those who didn't know of the hedgehog would think a motorist had gone crazy in the middle of a woodland clearing. He stopped outside the workshop that housed his closest friend who helped out more than anyone could say in their whole ordeal a couple of years back. It had expanded in size. The workshop itself was now down the outside steps and the once workshop was now a cosy little home for the golden fox.

Shadow was observing everything around him. The only thing he saw on Earth was the inside of a government base before being sealed away. No wonder Maria wanted to come back here. He completely understood her want to be down here so much now. He didn't want to ever leave.

"Maria…" Shadow found himself saying out loud in a faraway voice. Sonic caught his little outburst and tilted his head with a raised eyebrow to give a silent question. Shadow somehow understood what he was trying to ask and nodded with his eyes closing, memories of his only friend filling his mind.

"Maria was my only friend in the Space Colony. She cared for me like a mother. She didn't treat me like a monster, or some freak of nature. She actually cared. About me as a living being I mean." Shadow faced Sonic to continue when he saw the blue hedgehog holding a folder that looked very familiar and was looking at an aged photograph. Immediately Shadow went on the defensive and snatched both items away from the cobalt hero, who was still holding onto an invisible folder and picture before looking back at the raven hedgehog in front of him in surprise. "Where the hell did you get these? These are top secret files that nobody should know about!"

Sonic realised that the objects in his possession were no longer with him and gave Shadow a soft glare. "You could have said _'please'_ you know." He scolded with a pout and stuck his tongue out, but Shadow was growing rapidly impatient at not being answered immediately.

"Where did you get these?" Shadow repeated, anger now evident in his voice and his eyes narrowing dangerously. It was clear to the blue hedgehog that he should have either left these documents or given them to the black hedgehog right away. He felt the malicious intent directed towards him, and raised his hands in defence, not knowing exactly what he had done to deserve such a nasty look.

"When I was running around the base trying to check in case there were any enemies around, I came across them…" Sonic started to go a little pink in the face. Shadow didn't even bother to ask, he just shook his head and tutted quietly with an eye roll.

When Shadow calmed down a little more and turned away to look around again, the two tailed fox known as Miles Tails Prower was standing outside his workshop, obviously having heard the commotion from the two Mobians outside his home. The ebony hedgehog stood with his eyes wide when he saw Tails for the first time. He had never seen another living Mobian that was another species before, never mind a fox with two tails. He was amazed, to say the least.

When he came back to reality after getting caught in his thoughts about the possibility of seeing other Mobians, he found Sonic waving a hand in front of his face and making strange noises with his mouth. Shadow shook his head and swatted the blue hedgehogs hand away and gave off a glare as a warning not to do it again.

' _This hedgehog is starting to get on my nerves. Everything he does just frustrates me… and I don't know why.'_

"Finally, you're back with us. Shadow, this is Tails, my bestest buddy and the smartest guy you'll meet…Tails, this is Shadow, I found him in a weird base while I was getting chased by crazy robots that weren't Eggmans, " Sonic introduced rather obviously, smirking with pride as if he had just saved another town. "I found him frozen in time in an abandoned base outside the city." he finished with a large toothy grin plastered onto his face once again. Shadow figured that this guy like to smile way too much. He turned to face the young kitsune again and nodded his head at him in recognition, causing Tails to immediately jump into action, his eyes sparkling at a new find.

"Sonic I think you have eaten too many chilidogs today, you're imagining things again." The young fox turned his attention completely to the newcomer, holding his hand out to shake Shadows hand in greeting.

"Hello I'm Miles Prower, but you can call me Tails, everyone else does." the young fox held his soft gaze onto Shadow, assuring him he wasn't a threat. Shadow hesitantly shook the golden fox's hand, the thought of a fox having two tails still evident in his thoughts. He thought about asking, but wasn't really sure how to go about it in case he offended the fox kid. He couldn't shake off the feeling that he was in the wrong place and it was starting to annoy him. These guys were too happy about everything. Didn't they know about what G.U.N were up to?

"…Hi… Uhh, I'm not really sure what I should say… not really good at conversations…"Shadow rubbed the back of his neck with his other hand. "I'm Shadow the hedgehog, Ultimate Lifeform, created on the Space Colony ARK. I'm looking for some way to make the world pay for Marias death. I need to have my revenge for causing the Professor so much pain."

Tails' eyes widened, and he took his hand back slowly when the hedgehog before him gave that piece of information. He smiled sheepishly, not entirely sure of what to say in response to that.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Shadow. It was nice of Sonic to let you keep up with him until you two got here."

"Actually Tails, we both got here full speed," Sonic jumped in. "He's fast, but not as fast as me."

"Hmph! You wish hedgehog."

Sonic pouted at Shadows response, but smirked when Tails looked between the two with a blank look. "Sorry Tails. Continue with your talk and whatever."

The dual tailed Mobian smiled and glanced back at the black hedgehog who had his arms folded and was looking at the ground, looking at the small stones and dirt mounds in wonder. He was taking in every tiny little detail of the world around him, and it intrigued Tails that an organic being like the hedgehog before him had no clue of anything the planet had to offer him.

"Well, I guess I should give you a little more information on me," Tails spoke up with a gentle smile. "I am twelve years old, have been best friends with Sonic since as far back as I can remember, and I really like to make things."

Shadow looked back up at the young fox who was really trying to open him up a little bit with conversation. He found a small smile creep on to his face. An image of the Professor popped into his head and he found himself interested in what he had to say. "Make things? What like?"

"Oh! Well, I've made loads of things. Small robots to help around the lab and house, upgrades to household equipment, my plane… you get the idea I guess."

"A plane? How can you possibly have the tools to make a plane here? They are very expensive and powerful things to make out of nowhere kid."

Tails blushed slightly at being referred to as a child. He needed to remember that this hedgehog came from another time and most likely didn't even know what was people were capable of nowadays.

"Well Shadow, in this day and age, the likes of planes and any vehicle can be mass produced. I made my plane based on Sonic's old plane, the Tornado, but I have upgraded it and now it can be used with the Chaos Emeralds to be much faster and durable. Humans can also utilise the power from a Chaos Emerald, but because of them not being from this world they're still wary of it, so we get to keep a hold of them."

Shadow nodded at the young Mobian who gave quite a long explanation in response to what he said. He deduced that quite some time had passed since he was imprisoned. When he was first created, the Professor said a lot of things were still relatively new in the planet below, Planes and Cars and the like were newer concepts and not a lot of people could afford to own one unless they had or earned a lot of money.

"Wait, you said Chaos Emeralds. And not being from this world. What do you mean by that? You don't reside on this planet normally?"

Sonic tapped his foot, impatient at the best of times but now that things were getting talked about that they knew of, he decided to go on a short run while Shadow was told of how they got stuck on Earth. A gust of wind blew between the two others as the conversation continued in the cerulean hedgehog's absence.

"Well, we had an incident a few years back that caused some of us Mobians to get sent to Earth. We have since had our enemy come with us somehow and try to take over this planet as well as our Mobius. Dr Eggman isn't someone you want to know. He a bad guy and doesn't do anything for the benefit of others. His real name is Dr Robotnik, but we like to name him Eggman. If you saw him, you would understand why we call him that."

"Why would that be? My creator wasn't a bad person; he created me for the good of this planet. But then the damn humans came and took Maria from this world. What does that say about these humans?"

Tails looked at the black hedgehog that looked angrier than before, but his eyes held a lot of regret and sadness in them. He couldn't really understand why, but he guessed this Maria played a large part in it. He noticed the folder Shadow was holding under his arm and grew curious. "What is that you have with you?"

Shadow held on to the documents but showed him the front cover hesitantly. As soon as Tails saw the name on the front, he gasped loudly.

"THAT'S who created you?"

The ink black male simply nodded with his eyes closed firmly.

Tails began pacing the front of his house with his hand on his chin in thought. "But Professor Gerald was executed before they could get any information on his projects. How did G.U.N get a hold of you?"

Shadows eyes opened and focused intently on the pacing fox. "You knew the Professor? Why was he executed? He wasn't an evil man; he just wanted payment for taking Maria from us."

Tails held up his hands to stop Shadow from asking anything else. He didn't know much but all he knew at present was G.U.N were responsible for killing him, and that he was crazy.

"From what I know, Professor Gerald was a kind Professor who dedicated his life solely to helping others. He wanted to ensure that his only granddaughter was cured of a deadly disease called N.I.D.S if I remember correctly."

Earning a slight nod and grunt from the black hedgehog, Tails figured he had been right so far. He hoped his information on this incident wasn't wrong, but he also hoped that the project they had secured wasn't the one that killed on sight.

"Well, I remember reading that a rumour had started that he was not only creating something to protect the world from disease, but also something that was considered a threat to the world. It was called a 'living weapon', and was to be terminated at all costs. The Guardians of the United Nations were ordered shortly afterwards to go up to ensure that the rumours were false, but were instead met with a lot of… complications."

"They killed Maria." Shadow stated bluntly. "You call that a complication?"

Tails' ears flattened as he realised who exactly Maria was. She was the Professors Granddaughter. Her name was just never released to the public.

"Shadow, there is something you need to know though, about this whole thing. It might be harder to follow through with your revenge plan than you think."

Shadow raised an eyebrow in question. Was he trying to stop the dark hedgehog from following on his creators last wishes? "And what exactly would be the problem?"

Tails sighed and closed his eyes while looking down at the folder once again, keeping a note of the date the record showed to the world. "Well the thing is… some time has passed since you were last awake…"

The impatience was again trying to take him over as he gritted his teeth. "How long?"

"Fifty years."

* * *

I feel like I may have rushed the end a little, but that is for you guys to tell me. Let me know how this is going, and I will be trying to get this out along with another chapter of The Return as soon as I can. Work is killing me right now though as I don't have a lot of free time to just sit down and get in the zone.

We will be visiting our favourite echidna in the next chapter. It is currently in the middle of getting filled out and stuff. You would not believe how much I need to add to it as literally only the basics were in the chapter originally. I am trying to make all chapters around 3.5k - 5k words to keep it balanced out.

I hope to see you all in the next one.

Until next time, ForevaYoung signing off o/


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